Bailer



Jan 6, 1931. M. RIHEMPHILL BAILER Filed Sept. 6, 1929 mal and conventional ,use withdraws from" p ferred form", involving the'elongated casing 1 tightly packed Patented Jan. 6, 1931 This invention isdirectedto an iiriprove-f.v ment in ballers for use n connectlon w th o1l wells and the ll'ke wherein provision ,isfm'ade rtur It; mama "er anerr; TEXAS '1 tim n A man liledsepteniber s, 1925, seen in). 390,791. to e o linez-sz otFigfor cleaning the hailer of ,accu nulatedand packed sand and the like acq tired during the cleaning function 'o fth'e' blaile ri As isfwell unaersto a, va1tare-init m;''

the well a very considerableportionofsand and like materiahwhich in its accumulaf" tlon 1n the bailer becomes so tightly-packed,

particularly v in the lower portion of the bailer,lthat it is verydi'fiicult to dislodge in the cleaning of the b'aile'r afterthe latter has beenremo'ved from the welL} Z Various attempts have been; madeto pro vide for cleaning the 'bailer by dislodging this material, but such" attempts have been proven to be practically insufiicie nfih as they were largely directed to amere agik tation of the material at local points, which while loosening I did not in any way tend to force the material the material at such points through the outlet at the lowerendof'the bailer and were,

The primary tion is the provision of anelement within'the duringthe 'leaI i ig; P??? ation, for jrelative rotation with; respect to the bailer, the element being so formed'that. in this relative rotation th ef material, withinj' the operative range of the element, is actually 'torced toward and-through thefoutlet' from:

bailer designed the ba'iler in a therefore, ineffective; object of the present invenpositive and direct manner.

and dislodging element to'thereby insure' accuracy of relative positions of these part-sand V guard against the possibility of except through Figurev 1 1s a y separation breakage." a

Fig

fre 2 isa'section on alperspective view, showing the valve,"'dart and 'dislodging element formed asaunitf The bailer oi present improvement, asldeffrom the details specificallyhereinafter referred to, isof any conventional or"presleeve like element 3" fitted within the lower endof the casing and riveted or otherwise se' curedlthereto to insure substantial strength andrigidity at this point. The upperinner edge of the sleeve-likeelement 3 is appropriately formedto provide a seat forthe valve 3,

asindicated at 3*." I J Agat bailer is withdrawn fromthe w n,

throughfthe bailer" handle 5 and connected chain or cable 6, the valveof' course closes,

perinitting'the material accumulated in the bailer to be withdrawn from the well, this be- A further object of the invention'is" the ingthe'conventional Cleaning Operation specific formation of a combined"v'alve,' da 1'"t,

. Duringthe cleaning operation, the materialvaccumulated in the bailer', largely sand and water, will arrange itself in the bailer with the sand at the lower portion and the wateron top of the sand. The sand accumulating in the bailer is found to pack very tightly and solidly therein, and as the bailer,

a-fterit has been. removed from the well, has v of courseto be cleaned from this accumulated 7 material the. solid; packed sand presents a serious difficulty in any effective cleaning of the bailen p Various attempts have been made to dis lodge this comparatively hard accumulated body of sand in the lower portion ofthe bailer by agitating the sand at local pointsin an effort to loosen the same. I This loosening oi the sand at local points does not tend to a breaking up of the hardened mass in a man-' ner to permit it to flow through the valve opening2, and therefore all such attempts with'whichlam familiar have proven in effective.

' of the present'inventionis in thern a't'ure of a helical threaded member 7. connected toand The present invention is designed to pro .vide a means by which this accumulated hardened mass of sand is, at least throughout the hardened portion'thereof immediately adja cent the valve opening 2, positively forced through such opening, and: as the hardened mass: is thus broken and dislOdged by being .forced through the opening, the remaining portions of 'the sand will by :gravity' be brought into contact with the dislodging means, and by it also forced through, the "opening, until.the sand has reached such a I stage offiuiditytliatitwillrfrefiii? g avitate through the opening.

The d'slodging rn eans forming the feature rising from the valve 3, the, helical convolutions of the member, indicated at '8, present ing comparatively broad 1 operative faces. The usual stem 4 of the valve may, andprefl erably is for the purposes of the present in vention, be provided with a conventional dart 9 having an open'ing'lO, in order that-during the cleaning operation th'e valve may beheld open to discharge water, as is usual. 1

' Afterthe bailer with its accumulated body of sand is withdrawn from the well, it is held upright on the ground surface and the dart 9 engaged with the ground surface to open the Valve 3 and at the same time hold the dislodging .ineans 7 against rQt tion. The bailer v proper, that is the'c'asing l, is then turned'by hand relative to the 'dislodging member as an axis.v The helical convolutions. of the dis lodging, member? are thus forced to bite into the" immediately surrounding mass of sand and not only break up this mass but posi' tivelya'nd directly force the immediately sur-' rounding material toward and through the casing valve opening 2. As the movement continues and the helical dislodging member removes the immediately surrounding portion of sand, other material will gravitate toward the dislodging member and be broken up and forced from the bailer by the relative movement between the dislodging member bailer casing just described. This movenentwill be continued-until the hardened mass is thoroughlylbroken up and discharged,

or until the sand within the bailer has reached sand area.

uitiliz'e the dislodging element forth c a stage of fluiditywhich will cause it to free- 1y gravitate through the valve opening 2.

The bailer with the improved dislodging means isthus effectively and readily cleaned of the accumulated. hardened sand in a simple, expeditious manner without requiring any additional tools or the usual labor of inverting the bailer and dislodg'ing the material by hand. A comparatively few turns of the bailer casing will serve to initiate the sand I dislodging and discharging operations, and thereafterthe cleaning ifunction is" quiclrly andeasily carried out. 7 1 Experience has demonstratedthat the hardi nedpacked'mass ofsand is present only in the lower portion of the bailer, and therefore. it is contemplated that the efiective length of the dislodging element need only be that suflioientto reach through this hardened However, it is the intention to tiveoperation and forceful displacing of the sandfthroughoutthishardened area, and under these circumstances it is to be understood 7 that there is to be no restriction as to the length of the dislodgingeleinent; and that any andall lengths of such element as may be necessary for the dislodging of this hardened material in the particular instance, are contemplatedas Within the spirit and scope of the resent invention.f V

T e e prefered'mode of operation is by fixing T the dislod ging element and rotating the bailer casing relative thereto; Obviously, the reverse operation is equally eflective, namely hold ng the bailer-casing against movement and rotating the dislodging element by a suitable tool. The eflective functionof this stage of the invention is the relative rotation between the dislodging element and bailer casing, without particular'regard as to the manner which this relative rotation is accomplished.

As an important-butmore specific feature of the invention,, it is contemplated that the valve,,dislodging member, valve stem and dart. be constructed integrally from a single piece of metal in order to insurethe advantages of rig idity'in'operation with little-liability- Ofsepar-ation of theparts in use. To this end, a cylindrical piece of appropriate metal the valve, 'dislodging member, stemand dart as an integral element.

What is claimed to benew is:

1. A bailer for oil and other wells, including a bailer casing, a valved opening at the lower end of the casing, a valve for said opening and means carried by the valve for breaking up and forcing the material-within the bailer through the valved opening in the relative rotationof said means and hailer casing, said means being freely rotatable independently of the position of the valve.

2. A bailer for oil and other wells, including a bailer casing, a valved opening at the lower end of the casing, avalve for said opening and a helical dislodging element carried by the valve and extending within the cas- 8. A bailer for oil and other wells including a casing having a discharge opening, a

valve for the opening, and a helical discharge ing, said dislodging element being freely rotatable independently of the position of the valve. i V 3. A bailer for oil and other wells, including a bailer casing, a valved opening at the lower end of the casing, a helical dislodging element carried by the valve and. extending within the casing, and means beyond and wholly free of connection with the casing whereby the element may be fixed against rotative movement while permitting rotative movement of the casing.

4. A bailer for oil and other wells, includ ing a bailercasing, having a discharge opening, a helical dislodging element extending within the casing, said element being designed for free rotative movement with respect to the casing, and serving during such movement for breaking up and by reason of its helical formation positively forcing the material within the casing through the discharge opening.

5. A bailer for oil and other Wells, including a bailer casing, a valved opening at the lower end of the casing, a helical dislodg'ing element carried by the valve and extending within the casing, and means having a transverse operating plane materially greater than the radius of the casing and means carried by the valve for fixing the element against rotation.

6. An accessory for oil and other well bailers, including an integral unit formed to provide a valve section for the bailer, a helical dislodglng section above the valve,sec-

tion, said helical dislodging section having a diameter substantially equalling that of a dart at the terminal of the stem.

7 A bailer for oil and other wells including a bailer casing having a discharge opening, a valve for said opening, and a helical the valve, a stem below the valve section, and V with the casing and being capable of op- I erative rotation for discharge purposes in any position of the valve within the casing. 

